You have big news coming up, like a major company or product launch. Should you try to make a splash at the next major show?

The answer depends on a number of factors.

The press swarm around the big tech events, and it seems you can’t escape the related din during show time. It was hard to get attention for clients in mobile and telecom who were not at Mobile World Congress a couple of weeks ago.

In 2007, Twitter had its “South by” moment, a tipping point for the company in which many people began to use the service more actively.

The same thing happened to Foursquare… In 2009, Dennis Crowley, a co-founder, flipped the switch on Foursquare days before the conference began; it became the breakout app of the conference and was valued at nearly $100 million a little more than a year later.

Whether it is SxSW or another show, it is tempting to think that your company can become the belle of the ball and reach a wider stage. But precious few do so – the same NY Times article mentioned several SxSW darling wannabes that either never got the big buzz, or did, but failed to live up to the hype.

So, why not ditch the Go Big or Go Home bravado, and ask the following questions before betting big on a trade show Hail Mary?

Can your news really stand out? A popular trade show is like a busy news day. It is usually difficult or impossible to know which news might compete with or eclipse yours.

Twitter and FourSquare’s SxSW lofty debuts were not just about clever PR – they were perfect storms, the result of timing, momentum that had already been building, and great synergies with the event vibe and crowd.

Is it the right kind of news for the show? If you do have truly important news and it is a hallmark event for your space, it may still make sense to launch there. Key media and analysts typically attend, and watch closely for just this type of thing.

New product announcements can get attention at a show. Organizers often run award contests for products announced there.

Even if you don’t announce at a show, there are ways to get some PR mileage from the opportunity. It is great to be able to meet with the journalists and analysts who are attending, and take the time to introduce your company or share updates.

You could also share news under embargo (meaning that the journalist agrees to not jump the gun) that will be announced at a later date.

Just remember that reporters usually prefer to cover-show related news. It is a PR feeding frenzy to get on their dance cards, and hard to spend quality time amidst the noise and chaos of a show.

If you are not investing in a booth, or announcing at a show, set your expectations accordingly.

For more information about considerations in timing your tech news, see my post on the topic. Visit this page if you’d like to sign up for more information about how to maximize your tech PR launch.

GigaOm’s crash and burn this week really hit a nerve. The outpouring on the blogs and social media showed its key place in the hearts and minds of those in the B2B tech space. The speed of the flameout left many of us grasping for answers.

Over the next day, like a slowly developing Polaroid, tweets and articles from watchers and principals started to fill in the picture.

I share more of what I learned, and offer takeaways for B2B tech PR and marketers below.

Houston, we Have a Problem

I first heard the news Tuesday evening, when one of our AEs sent an email with the subject line:”GigaOm is shutting down!” and the following tweets.

This hurts more than I can say: I was just told Gigaom is shutting down — it has run out of money. We tried our best, but it wasn’t enough.

The next day, there were many tweets and articles that sought to explain what happened, such as these stories on Digiday and TNW. Colleagues and coworkers compared notes and shared info – my good friend Judy Gombita sent this exit interview of Matthew Ingram, from Columbia Journalism Review.

Some blamed GigaOm’s troubles on VC, and the pressures of trying to grow too quickly. Search engine guru Danny Sullivan wrote a great piece on Medium about the benefits of bootstrapping a tech media operation. He described the success of Third Door Media, and lamented the lack of attention they and others get compared to VC-backed high fliers.

A PR Week story, also shared by Judy, tried to gauge the reaction from the PR community. The headline said it all: Tech Media Landscape Unruffled… Says PR Pros. The reason? In essence, there are many other tech blogs where GigaOm came from, and many other places to get your tech news covered.

I disagree. First, GigaOm was not just another tech media operation. They had a unique talent for covering enterprise tech.

“…The headline doesn’t match the story… Fewer news orgs is not good for PR pros”

Another issue with the PR Week story – it would seem to imply that PR is just about getting media coverage. Aren’t our clients and employers expecting the investment (which increasingly also covers social media and content marketing) to deliver business results?

Houston, we Have a Bigger Problem

Let me try to further explain by sharing the details of a conversation I just had with a good friend Joe, an IT consultant. He is a project manager, and has worked with some of the largest banks in the areas of fraud prevention and anti-money laundering tech.

I was trying to better understand where IT decision-makers get their info on behalf of a client that offers solutions in this area. They were looking for ways to get through to buyers.

Through an email exchange, I asked my questions and Joe shot back “Gartner is what immediately jumps to mind. Financial services firms worship them. Then the 2nd tier analysts… Forrester, etc.”

I pressed him further, and he responded with the trade shows and industry associations.

Of course, I was fishing for the names of blogs and publications that the decision-makers frequent. Not getting this, I responded in frustration: “I guess no one reads any more :(”

Joe replied: “People out of school now only know the word magazine in the context of playing Call of Duty.” Ba dum.

The explosion of tech media choices – and uncertainty about how many people actually go to news sites and blogs to read the full articles – poses existential questions for the fields of tech PR and marketing.

Their Whisper service solves the communication rift for K-12 schools. It is like the school paper come alive and online, and provides a Web destination and messaging hub for each school’s news and bulletins.

Investa_Gator

This was the hack of the night. Eric Schles showed his program, which uses semantic tech to mine online ads, and detect and report sex trafficking.

The presenters revealed the startling fact that many air travelers are entitled to monetary compensation for being inconvenienced when flights are delayed or canceled. Their program mines your email for such instances, handles the claim, and gets you your refunds.

A real cool hardware-based startup. They invented an indoor exercise bike that is truly wired, a miracle of cycle engineering and computer tech. It brings boutique fitness into the home, literally – live and recorded classes are streamed to the touchscreen to aid your workout. The display shows all kinds of data to help you track and meet your workout goals.

It is really tough to pick favorites, as so many cool and truly useful demos were shown. I think AirHelp is my top pick for “need to have and try this immediately.” I would love to have the Peloton bike, even though my workout is usually running, not biking (my birthday is coming up in two weeks, hint hint).

ListenLoop was the outlier as it is about B2B marketing tech; but we do lots of work in the space, and I could readily appreciate its benefits.

My girlfriend, who is an art nut (hi Sine!), will want to check out Kollecto.

I also shared a tip that should be especially effective for those who work in the tech sector. It is about communicating clearly and powerfully. Here is an excerpt:

“… impenetrable prose leaves an open space for those who can relate more clearly and powerfully. How can you fill the space? Replace [jargon] with words that actually mean something – and sentences and phrases that connect with the intended audiences…

Do it well and you will not only hit the bulls eye when it comes to getting on the radars of prospects – you will also likely reach a wider audience via approachable language. My Words that Work in Tech PR series goes into more detail about this tactic.”

In this post, I list two additional tactics. See below, and visit this page if you’d like to register to learn more about open spaces marketing.

Time your Communications

When considering the timing for a campaign, most seek to avoid bigger noise and find the times when people are more likely to tune in. For example, conventional wisdom says not to issue press releases on a Monday or Friday, unless you are trying to bury your news. Attention tends to trail off on days surrounding the weekend or holidays. Don’t announce your tech product when others (especially Apple) might be stealing thunder with their big news.

The latest technology and research opens the door to a more nuanced approach. Dan Zarrella, an authority on data-driven marketing, has written extensively on this topic. In his book Hierarchy of Contagiousness, he writes about “contra-competitive timing”, essentially an open spaces approach to social media. Zarrella’s research reveals non-intuitive findings such as:

Friday at 4pm is the most retweetable time

Weekend stories get shared more

Blog early for links, on the weekend for comments

There are also tools that claim to help identify the best time to tweet, e.g. see this features list for SocialBro.

Content types and Networks

Good marketers like to tap the latest methods for reaching customers. These days, this often involves using social media, and tempting buyers with informative and entertaining content.

But the most popular social networks can be crowded and noisy places. There’s a herd mentality in marketing, and if something works well, you can be sure that others will quickly jump in. Take visual content, which has become popular in the last few years. Infographics used to be a novel idea; now they are passé; there are so many, and most are not that impressive, making them easier to ignore.

Open spaces marketing means zigging when others zag. It also means keeping your eyes on emerging vehicles, getting good at picking the likely winners, jumping on board and mastering them before the competition does.

This works especially well for brands that want to be edgy, and are interested in early adopters (whether it’s the youth crowd in consumer or business buyers). Newer social networks and content types might not have the mass appeal or audience as the mainstream – but you will be among the first to stake a claim and build audience – one that can grow as the network grows.

What other networks and communications vehicles are emerging? There’s been some buzz about Ello, an ad-free social network that has a minimalist design and promises not to sell personal data. The New York Times recently wrote about the rise of messaging apps.

To read about great examples of innovation in content marketing, see the Moz blog.

There you have it – the same idea applied to disparate areas of timing, language and networks. Open spaces marketing can be a versatile and powerful approach – do you have thoughts on other applications?

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I really loved the AMC show Breaking Bad. It seems like only yesterday that my girlfriend and I binged on it, getting through all the seasons in a couple of months.

This time I wanted to get an early start with the new spin off Better Call Saul and try something new – like watching it in real time, instead of having to go back and binge.

So far it is great. The program has the same writing team as Breaking Bad, and some of the same actors.

Yesterday, in Episode 4, PR played a starring role. But it was not the most flattering context.

In one scene, two lawyers were discussing their client, a couple who’d embezzled and were about to play a starring role in the news. the junior partner asked “should we get them a PR firm?”

The last act of yesterday’s episode (spoiler alert) included a publicity stunt that Jim McGill (who eventually became Saul Goodman – as in s’all good, man!) engineered to drum up business while defending his budding practice from a much larger law firm.

The stunt involved a large billboard and dangling worker. It is explained further in the latest NY Times wrap:

His goal, we soon learn, is to create a highway billboard ad for his law practice… And here comes the payoff: Jimmy has arranged for the man taking down the ad to feign a near-death experience, by “accidentally” falling off a landing and dangling from a rope 65 feet in the air. With a hired film crew capturing every moment, Jimmy rushes to the rescue, ensuring TV and newspaper coverage for a great story: Solo practitioner bullied by big law firm saves workingman’s life.

Law and PR, not such strange bedfellows. You often see lawyers acting as spokespeople – yet, looking at it from the PR side, we instruct clients not to be too legalistic in how they approach the media and public.

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You’ve heard about Sushi for Beginners. This post is about Sushi for PR Champions. It was inspired by the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a documentary about the man behind a modest Sushi bar in Japan. Jiro Ono’s uncompromising approach earned his shop an unprecedented 3 Michelin star rating (which means it is worth a special trip to the country just to eat at the place).

I think the movie offers valuable lessons about how to reach for perfection and provide a quality product or service.

So I decided to write this post, which connects the ideas with the world of PR. Read on only if you really are interested in being the best. Jiro’s approach may seem severe. You may flinch as you read it and think they are impossible standards. But you don’t get to be the best by slacking.

To really appreciate these lessons watch the movie; here are my quick observations, interspersed with quotes from the movie in italics:

Love your work, and take it seriously

The words below could apply to PR, or any field, really.

Once you decide on your occupation… you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success…

Be a perfectionist, sweat every detail

It’s essential to check every detail.I make the sushi different sizes depending on the customer’s gender.If I made everybody’s the same size. It would disrupt the pace of the meal. So, I make the sushi a little smaller for the ladies.The first thing we do is memorize the seating arrangement. If Jiro notices a guest using his left hand… the next piece of sushi will be placed on the left side. So, you adjust accordingly to that guest.

Whether you are writing a press release, approaching the media or executing a campaign, sweat every detail. E.g., here at Fusion, I tell the team “there’s no such thing as a draft – get it right, really nail it, the first time.”

This passage also speaks to the importance of tailoring your offering, or pitch.

Work hard, practice, repeat

We’re not trying to be exclusive or elite.It’s just about making an effort and repeating the same thing every day.

[Jiro] sets the standard for self-discipline. He is always looking ahead. He’s never satisfied with his work. He’s always trying to find ways to make the sushi better, or to improve his skills. Even now, that’s what he thinks about all day, every day.

It is not about flash; Jiro has the discipline and focus of a Tibetan monk. Similarly, in PR it is important to hone and apply best practices through repetition (another good source on the topic is the book The Power of Habit).

Repetition, practice, and applying proven formulas does not need to be dull or formulaic… see the last point below.

Of course, you need talent

In this line of business… if you take it seriously, you’ll become skilled. But if you want to make a mark in the world, you have to have talent.

Don’t be too quick to rush freshly minted PR strivers to the front lines; if you are just joining the profession, take the time to learn the craft before even thinking of the next rung.

Keep things simple

All of the sushi is simple. It’s completely minimal. Master chefs from around the world eat at Jiro’s and say… How can something so simple have so much depth in flavor?” If you were to sum up Jiro’s sushi in a nutshell… Ultimate simplicity leads to purity.

Jiro takes a Zen-like approach to simplicity. Similarly, the best PR ideas and stories are compelling, powerful and simple – they are easy to tell and understand.

Have great taste

In order to make delicious food, you must eat delicious food…. you need to develop a palate capable of discerning good and bad. Without good taste, you can’t make good food. If your sense of taste is lower than that of the customers, how will you impress them?

How can you be good at PR if you don’t read or pay close attention to news? The best PR people have great taste – they develop a reporter’s instinct for a great story.

Know when to strike

Each ingredient has an ideal moment of deliciousness. Mastering the timing of sushi is difficult. It takes years of experience to develop you intuition. The sushi must be eaten immediately after it is served.

Effective campaigns are not just about great stories but timing, too. Here again, it helps to have a reporters’ nose for a hot topic.

Dream big, innovate

The masters said that the history of sushi is so long… that nothing new could be invented. They may have mastered their craft… but there’s always room for improvement. I created sushi dishes that never existed back then. I would make sushi in my dreams. I would jump out of bed at night My mind was bursting with ideas

The PR advice here is clear. Break out of the formula and find ways to innovate – on each campaign, and in the ways that you practice and apply PR. Care so much about these things that you dream about them.

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While watching my kids play soccer years ago, I often heard the coach yell “Open Spaces! Pass to space!”

The instructions might not make sense, but on the playing field they were obvious: the coach was imploring the team to pass the ball to an area that was unoccupied by defenders.

Marketers of today can learn a thing or two from this philosophy. For as long as I can remember, companies have been told that they need to find ways to “break through the clutter” and “rise above the noise.” This generally involved brute force – “talking” louder, or more persistently – ideally in combination with clever campaigns.

But today’s hyper-noisy world demands new metaphors and strategies. In a crowded field, it is much better to find an area where there are no defenders. Said another way, instead of trying to compete with the din, and punch your way through, why not find and fill an open space?

There are many practical ways to market to open spaces. The beauty is that you can use these tactics individually, or combine them for even better results.

Please see below for the first tip, and I will share others in my next post.

Communicate Clearly when others are Confusing

Most industries have their own language. Using the acronyms, buzzwords and slang identifies you as a member of the club, an insider who is smart about the business. It can serve as shorthand and streamline communications. However, jargon run amuck – when used by marketers, who have no actual experience with the product or industry – can be confusing.

For example, the tech world is famous for geek-speak. Just try reading press releases in B2B and IT tech and you will see what I mean – it can be tough to understand what the products actually do, and who benefits, even if you are a techie. This dense landscape of impenetrable prose leaves an open space for those who can relate more clearly and powerfully.

How can you fill the space? Replace all those “purpose builts”, “scale outs”, “seamlesses” and “end-to-ends” with words that actually mean something – and sentences and phrases that connect with the intended audiences.

It may sound easy but it isn’t – doing this right means knowing what you’re talking about, either from first-hand experience, or by tapping the knowledge of someone who is close to a space and ideally has been a user or implementer of similar solutions.

Do it well and you will not only hit the bulls eye when it comes to getting on the radars of prospects – you will also likely reach a wider audience via approachable language. My Words that Work in Tech PR series goes into more detail about this tactic.

To learn more about how you can market to open spaces, please visit this page.

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Cell phones have been blamed for everything from frying our brains, to shortening attention spans and making us stupid. But new research shows that the biggest threat may be to our creativity. It should especially be of interest to people in creative and info-driven fields like marketing, journalism and PR.

“…there’s little evidence that attention spans are shrinking… a significant deterioration would require a retrofitting of other cognitive functions. Mental reorganization at that scale happens over evolutionary time, not because you got a smartphone.”

However, that doesn’t mean the devices can’t pose other challenges – here’s another excerpt:

“Over the last decade, neuroscientists distinguished two systems of attention and associated thought. One is directed outward, as when you scroll through your email or play Candy Crush. The other is directed inward, as when you daydream, plan what you’ll do tomorrow, or reflect on the past. Clearly, most digital activities call for outwardly directed attention. These two modes of attention work like a toggle switch; when one is on, the other is off.”

The article notes the important role of daydreaming in creativity (although there can be downsides, like negative thoughts and distraction).

“Since 2008, when I first got a smartphone – I have never had to be bored. The phone has invaded every moment of my life. Am I missing out on something by not being bored anymore?”

Over fifteen minutes, she interviews researchers in fields of mind wandering and boredom (who knew there were such specialties?!!). One said “creativity and daydreaming are peas in a pod,” and another complained that the phone is “like an annoying detachable limb.”

The WNYC project challenges us to rethink the relationship with our phones and get more creative. You can participate by signing up here, and downloading an app that helps you track the time you spend on your phone.

It was probably the right thing to do, a real grownup decision for Google – a company that famously encourages employee innovation. And, sure, maybe Google Glass did seem like the sad punchline to a cruel geek joke (see the clip above, in which the Daily Show skewers “eye douches” wearing “$1,500 face computers.”).

But if you are in tech and love tech, it kind of hurts.

The fact that Google is taking its ball and going home may cause some to scale back all the hype and enthusiasm about wearable tech (a cornerstone of the vaunted Internet of Things, or IoT) as the Glasses were its poster child. And IoT is one of the great hopes of tech.

While you won’t catch me admitting to liking hype (or creating it) a certain amount of bullishness is good for business. It sells media and gear, a boon to those who market tech (and their PR agencies, let’s face it).

The retraction is also a little depressing because it calls in to question all the feel good, liberating talk of failing fast – just get product out there, the tech wonks tell the starry-eyed entrepreneurs. You will figure it out, with feedback and guidance from the market.

Innovate. Launch. Iterate. And quickly, for Chrissakes don’t make a career out of it.

Well, you can’t fail fast without a little failure, some might retort.

Perhaps – but maybe, just maybe, there’s some good advice about market research and planning in all those dry MBA textbooks.

Doing some of those basics might have helped Google avoid another cliché – offering a technology in search of a problem to solve.

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We surveyed our team about their mobile app use, asking everyone to pick their top three (intentionally excluding client apps from consideration).

It was a fun exercise, as there was much variety in the answers (no one picked the same ones, in fact there was very little overlap) and I learned about a few new apps in the process.

I also learned about new uses for existing apps, and more about the interests of some of our team members. Some were surprising – I did not know that Nicole is a sports nut, Annie loves podcasts, and Mark wakes up with a different ring tone every day!

Other apps were for navigating issues in daily life, e.g. a restaurant/bar tab splitter, food delivery app and Bible verses

Quite a few related to media: e.g. Flipboard, Spotify (who knew that you can use it to learn a new language?), Zedge, SoundHound, and Shazam.

Many of the apps were for communications, social media and food/entertainment/travel

Please see below for the responses from some of the team members:

Annie

Waze is my lifeline for getting through tricky L.A. traffic during rush hour

Stitcher has all of my favorite podcasts to keep me entertained (and sane) while maneuvering through LA traffic

Postmates, a great food delivery app

Sara

Flipboard is my go-to news source

Tab is a great to help with splitting the bill between friends

Spotify stores my favorite albums, artists and songs plus you can learn a new language or choose a playlist depending on your mood.

Mark

Zedge lets me download a ton of ringtones so I can wake up to a different song every day

Timehop shows me what I posted on Facebook on this date for the past five years. It’s fun to revisit my recent past

Soundhound and Shazam – when I hear a song that interests me, I open one of these apps and hold my phone up in the air… ten seconds later, I know what song it is, who it’s by – and sometimes even how bad the lyrics are.

Fehmida

Google Maps: Probably the one and only app I would be completely lost without

Snapchat: a fun and easy way for me to stay in touch with friends and family… it also helps perfect my caption and finger drawing skills.

WhatsApp: I use this app exclusively for group conversations; it is a great platform when making plans.

Nicole

The Bible app provides a daily verse, it is a great, positive way to start my day and gets some motivation going

Bleacher Report notifies me whenever there’s news about all the sports teams I follow and my favorite players… it incorporates social media buzz about topics related to these teams and players as well.

Echofon is a lot better than the Twitter app for Droid… It syncs with the Echofon app for Mac

Laura

Waze: I’m not sure I could handle Los Angeles driving without this app that I use at least twice a day every single day.

Yelp: Since I moved to a new city, I haven’t had a bad meal or service experience, and it’s all because of this app!